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In 1879 the young Rodin entered a competition for a public monument honoring the French Republic, which resulted in this fierce-looking bust of Bellona, the Roman goddess of war. The model was his mistress and later wife, Rose Beuret (French, 1844–1917).

Both Bellona and The Call to Arms were created for civic sculpture contests that Rodin ultimately lost. In the late 1870s, Rodin was working to establish himself as an artist and sought to build a reputation; at the same time, France was recovering from almost a century of internal strife and was determined to celebrate her newly consolidated republican regime with an era of peace and reconciliation. In this atmosphere, it is easy to see why this fiery female bust, representing the Roman goddess of war, did not appeal to the judges. The straining tendons of Bellona's neck, coupled with her violent expression, give the piece a dramatic quality that appealed to only the most avant-garde artists and critics.

Rodin worked in traditional sculptural materials such as clay, wax, plaster, bronze, and marble. Although he did not attend the renowned École des Beaux-Arts (School of Fine Arts) in Paris, he learned the craft of sculpture through experience and years of employment in the studios of other artists. As he explained, "In addition to sculpture and design, I myself have worked at all sorts of things. I've cut down marbles, and pointed them; I've done etching, and lithography, bronze founding and patina; I've worked in stone, made ornaments, pottery, jewelry—perhaps even too long; but it all has served. It's the material itself that interested me. In short, I began as an artisan, to become an artist. That's the good, the only, method." Once he became an established artist, Rodin relied on a large studio of assistants to help him create large-scale works. Their presence allowed him to delegate the production aspects of his sculptures so that he could focus on conceiving and executing new pieces.

* Works in the collection are moved off view for many different reasons. Although gallery locations on the website are updated regularly, there is no guarantee that this object will be on display on the day of your visit.